Almost exactly 5 weeks ago, I bought a 2004.5 (production date 6/04) Daytona Blue, 6 Speed 350Z.

I kept the option list under control with the Aluminum kickplates, the fancy floormats/trunkcarpet and the Aero Package as my only options.The interior is Charcoal Cloth.

I spent the first few days attempting to drive it in, in perfect accordance with the owners manual, racking up almost 1000 miles in the first week.

It got its first oil change at 1050 miles and will get another at 2000 miles.

This is what I found:

1) Its a beautiful car, Inside and out!

The number of compliments you get, from complete strangers when driving this car is amazing.Frequently people ask you, " How much was this rig? 50 grand?"The cars sales success and its increase in numbers dont seem to have affected this. ( 30,000 sold per year).All the exterior lines run into each other and the brushed silver aluminum over Charcoal is both attractive and classy.

2) It handles awesome, whether, on some Kentuckiana Country lanes or at 100 mph in a sweeper its on rails

3) Brakes really Haul you down. I have the stock brakes and not the Brembos and while I feel you probably get better fade resistance from the Brembos, the stock brakes really shave off your speed like I have rarely seen before.

4) The springs have settled in some, when I had the car first, it almost seemed to sit a bit high, but now it is evident, that after 1800 miles of driving the springs have settled.It almost looks a bit lowered vs its showroom appearance.Very becoming

5) Rough idle. It idles rough, not like a musclecar of yore but not as even, as a 21st Century $30,000 new car, is expected to idle.This is not uncommon with teh 350Z according to some teh factory is looking into it for a TSB.

Off-the-cuff, it would seem an injector is slightly off, or the MAF connector loose.But many (especially non car PPL, used to driving run-of-the-mill class cars) say the idle seems right on. But gearheads agree its a bit off.I will bring this to my dealers attention at the first oil change, so far its my only mechanical complaint

6) Good and snappy, The VQ is easy to keep in its wide sweet spot, BUT dont expect to be a treet terror in your new Z. I just got beat pretty handily by a bone stock SRT-4 a couple of hours ago.Wasnt even close, of course my car isnt fully driven in yet and I probably could have done a quicker job shifting (bounced of the limiter once) but it was clear that it wasnt even close and in any case my driving error came after the race was alraedy decided.

Also, we <did> race from a roll, negating my RWD off-the-line traction advantage.

7) Ergonomics: Are absulutely fantastic. I am very pampered in this regard to begin with, as a multi year Infiniti driver, but the ergonomics on this car are so good, its almost humorous.Everything falls right in your hand, everything is right were you'd expect it and you dont have to reach even any control even at night.The seats are perfectly formfitting and hold you well, yet not uncomfortable.

In summary I love this car!

Fred..

5) Rough idle. It idles rough, not like a musclecar of yore but not as even, as a 21st Century $30,000 new car, is expected to idle.This is not uncommon with teh 350Z according to some teh factory is looking into it for a TSB.

Grounding kit would take care of that. Power delivery will smoothen up a bit too.